What is a Title Tag and How Do You Optimise It?
The title tag is the clickable headline in search results. It is one of the most important on-page SEO signals. Here is how to write one that ranks.
16 May 2026 · 5 min read
A title tag is an HTML element that specifies the title of a webpage. It appears in three places: the browser tab, the search engine results page as the clickable headline, and when a page is shared on social media (unless overridden by Open Graph tags).
It sits in the <head> of the page:
<head>
<title>How to Fix Redirect Chains | Crawly</title>
</head>
Title tags are one of the most important on-page SEO elements. They are the first signal Google reads when determining what a page is about, and they directly affect click-through rate in search results.
How long should a title tag be?
Google displays title tags up to approximately 600 pixels wide. In practice, that translates to roughly 55 to 60 characters for most text. Titles that exceed this are truncated with an ellipsis in search results.
| Title length | Status |
|---|---|
| Under 30 characters | Too short: a missed opportunity |
| 30 to 60 characters | Ideal range |
| Over 60 characters | Risk of truncation in search results |
Pixel width is the real constraint, not character count. A title composed of narrow characters (i, l, t) can be longer than one using wide characters (W, M). But as a rule of thumb, 55 to 60 characters covers the majority of cases.
Short titles are also a problem. A title like "Home" or "Blog" signals nothing useful to search engines or users and is a missed opportunity to communicate the page's purpose.
What makes a good title tag?
Include the primary keyword
The title tag is one of the clearest signals of relevance. Put the primary keyword as early in the title as possible. Google gives more weight to words earlier in the title.
"How to Fix Redirect Chains" is stronger than "A Guide to the Redirect Chain Problem and How to Address It".
Match search intent
The format of the title should match what users expect to find. Informational queries ("what is", "how to") should have informational titles. Transactional queries ("buy", "download", "free") should have titles that reflect the transaction.
Include the brand name
For most pages, appending the brand name at the end of the title is good practice. It signals credibility and helps with branded search recall. Use a separator: | or - are both conventional.
How to Fix Redirect Chains | Crawly
Make it specific
Generic titles perform worse than specific ones. "SEO Tips" attracts far less click-through than "12 Technical SEO Fixes That Improve Rankings in 2026". Specificity signals that the page has a concrete, useful answer.
Do not keyword-stuff
Repeating the same keyword multiple times ("best SEO tool, free SEO tool, SEO tool download") looks spammy and does not improve rankings. Write the title for a human first.
Does Google always use your title tag?
Not always. Google rewrites title tags it considers misleading, too long, too short, keyword-stuffed, or a poor match for the page's actual content. According to Google's own data, it rewrites title tags in a significant proportion of searches.
Common reasons Google rewrites your title:
- The title does not match the page's content
- The title is too long and Google replaces it with a shorter H1 or heading from the page
- The title is missing or empty
- The title is identical across multiple pages
The best defence against Google rewriting your title is to write a clear, accurate, concise title that precisely reflects the page's content. If Google consistently rewrites a particular title, it is usually a signal that the title is not a good fit.
Title tags vs H1 tags
The title tag and the H1 heading on the page are related but different elements. The title tag is what appears in search results and browser tabs. The H1 is the visible heading on the page itself.
They do not need to be identical, and for many pages they should not be. The title tag can be more keyword-focused and concise; the H1 can be more conversational or descriptive.
For example:
- Title tag:
How to Fix Redirect Chains | Crawly - H1:
How to Find and Fix Redirect Chains on Your Website
Both signal the same topic. The title tag is optimised for search results; the H1 is written for the user reading the page.
Unique title tags for every page
Every page on your site should have a unique title tag. Duplicate titles are one of the most common technical SEO issues: they tell Google that multiple pages cover the same topic, which creates confusion about which one to rank.
The pages most commonly affected: category pages that share similar names, paginated pages that use the same title across all pages in a series, and product pages on ecommerce sites that use templated titles without enough variation.
How to check your title tags
Crawly's free title tag checker lets you paste a URL and see the title tag instantly, including its character count and pixel width estimate.
For a full audit across your entire site, Crawly's desktop app crawls every page and reports missing titles, duplicate titles, titles that are too long, and titles that are too short, all grouped in the issues dashboard.
Title tags are one of the most direct levers in on-page SEO. Check yours across the whole site with Crawly's title tag checker.